Spare yourself these 5 interior design pains by hiring an interior designer

Itching to redecorate your home? Beware! Below are five of the most expensive interior design mistakes you can easily avoid by hiring an interior designer such as Aileen Martinia Interior Design.

Aileen Martinia Interior Design offers various design packages, from commercial to residential.

Avoid these 5 interior design mishaps

Don’t make the following five mistakes when redecorating your space:

1. Get a “cheap” looking room, while spending “BIG”

One of the most important contributions an interior designer brings to the table is the knowledge of where to spend the budget to make a room look more expensive than the money actually spent. When a budget is NOT unlimited, smart placements of more luxurious items at strategic positions have a big impact on the “look” of the room. The last thing you want as a client is to spend big money and have the result not show this. A professional interior designer has strategies in their arsenal to get the maximum “look” within the available budget of the client.

2. Resell on “Marktplaats” or stare at your mistakes for years

The good news: Marktplaats has been a good online marketplace to get quality and affordable secondhand furniture pieces. The bad news: Many of these pieces are sold by people who regret their purchases. In general, people do not replace their furniture often, so mistakes can be very expensive. When it comes to high-ticket items, mistakes are often irreversible, as the items are too costly to replace, and many people have to live with their bad choices for years.

Do you want to stare at the wrong sofa every day of your life? Or at those wallpapers that do not work as well as you thought? If not, consider having a professional advise you before you start buying.

3. Let fear control the result

Another reason why you would want to hire an interior designer is that they can take your rooms to a higher aesthetical level by showing you options that go beyond your own comfort level. A design is an art piece. So, you as a client will have the best result when you have the openness to experiment together with your designer. Click here to read some of Aileen Martinia Interior Design customer experiences.

Aileen: “For a community meeting centre, I designed a blue bench with patterned cushions. The lady in charge of the project became fearful that there would be too much blue in the room and she changed the colour into white. Then I explained that the reason I chose the colour blue was to visually balance the blue wall at the opposite side of the room. Fortunately, she was willing to change her mind, and the result was truly wonderful!

And I will always remember a client who was willing to give me the space to explore. We tested every orange paint on the market for the dining room walls. And he was willing to paint the ceiling light-orange as well. The result was amazing: a grand art deco dining room that looks modern and classic at the same time. He loved it! It is an art piece like no other.” 

4. Fail to plan before buying

The saying: “Failing to plan is to plan your failure” is very true. Before any designer steps into a store, they already have a clear idea in their mind of what kind of items they are looking for. It can be ideas about the size, the material, the price range, the style, the function of an item, et cetera. Any pieces that do not fit into this idea are rejected. So, strolling through stores and making spontaneous decisions is not the way to go.

Aileen from Aileen Martinia Interior Design: “The kitchen is usually one of the rooms that requires quite a significant investment. It is best to involve a designer for these kinds of rooms to get the maximum out of your investment.”

5. Underestimate the lighting

The importance and complexity of a good lighting scheme are probably underestimated. Common problems found in Dutch homes are: not having enough natural light, a very limited amount of lighting points, dark kitchen worktops, chandeliers that are too small for the room. These factors actually make planning a good lighting scheme more important. Lighting also brings atmosphere to the room, so if not done well, the result is a lingering feeling of “something is not right here." It is subtle, yet uncomfortable. 

Contact Aileen Martinia Interior Design

Aileen Martinia Interior Design offers various interior design packages, ranging from commercial, residential and humanitarian. Ready to spare yourself some interior design pain? Meet up with Aileen for a coffee & chat!

Aileen Martinia Interior Design
Schipmolen 41
1035CG Amsterdam
Regions: Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam.